PHILADELPHIA — Several Butler County residents who traveled across the state over the weekend to see Pope Francis said their trips were worth the many miles traveled.

Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to see the pope in Philadelphia during his historic six-day visit to the United States.

After visiting both New York City and Washington, D.C., the pope spent two days in Philadelphia, which was capped off by an outdoor Mass Sunday afternoon on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh chartered five buses to take 300 people to Philadelphia, more than 300 others traveled with members of their parishes and some traveled on their own.

Sister Patricia, a sister of the Holy Spirit who is a pastoral minister at St. Gregory Parish in Zelienople, said she briefly saw the pope on Saturday and volunteered at the Mass on Sunday.

She stayed with family of Sister Theresa Margaret, another sister of the Holy Spirit.

Sister Patricia said they waited for about 12 hours Saturday on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to catch a glimpse of the pope's motorcade.

But when he finally drove by, it was well worth their wait.

“I was just astounded. It was like he was looking directly at me,” she said.

On Sunday, they were among the more than 300 volunteers who were stationed on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to give out Communion during the Mass. They reported at 10 a.m. and were required to wait until the Mass began at 4 p.m.

The crowd that gathered along the parkway was estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands and stretched for as far as one mile.

“It was a sea of people waiting to see the Holy Father from all over the world. You could tell they were from all over the world and when you got into the crowd, you could hear that they were from all over the world,” Sister Patricia said.

She was fairly close to the papal altar and was able to witness the Mass in addition to volunteering.

“It was a very enlightening Mass. The pope is such a personable person. It's very inspiring,” she said.

“I just thought it was very family-oriented. It was about the family, keep the family all together.”

John Cascino of Chicora traveled with his wife and six children. They arrived in Philadelphia on Tuesday with a group from the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Before the pope arrived several days later, they attended sessions at the World Meeting of Families, which he said was a “faith-affirming experience.”

“We heard excellent talks,” Cascino said.

On Saturday, the family attended a Mass with Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik and then headed to the area where the pope would be for the Festival of Families. The pope arrived at about 4 p.m., and Cascino said he has some video of him getting there.

“It was wonderful,” Cascino said.

On Sunday, the family got in the security line about 1:30 p.m. for the pope's Mass scheduled at 4 p.m. But they did not get out of the line until almost 6 p.m. — well after the pope gave his homily.

They got through the gates shortly before the Communion distribution. In that line, the family got about 100 feet from a priest distributing Communion when the distribution was stopped because the Mass was going too long.

Ultimately, Cascino said the Mass was not disappointing. That was he said because of the eagerness of attendees to get Communion followed by the disappointment of the people who were not able to when it was halted.

“We should be this way trying to get Communion every week,” Cascino said.

Barbara Brandon of Butler said although she did not get close to the pope during the Mass, the weekend was a “wonderful moving experience to see our church leader and the love he shows everyone, no matter their walk of life.”

With all of the people who converged on Philadelphia suddenly trying to leave, she said she spent an hour and a half on the subway following the Mass. She did not arrive home until 5:30 a.m. today.

“There were thousands of people trying to get to their bus,” Brandon said in an e-mail.